This invention relates generally to golf equipment and, in particular, to golf club heads with face inserts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,132 to Fisher discloses a golf putter head that includes a metal body with a front face and a non-metallic face insert disposed in the front face of the body. The face insert is a multi-layered, laminated structure bonded to the bottom surface of a tapered slot formed in the face of the club head. The use of a laminated face insert permits a composite of the material properties of the laminates to be realized in a single face insert. A drawback of the putter disclosed in the Fisher patent, however, is that since the edges of the insert laminations are exposed, they are easily damaged. Accordingly, soft laminates cannot easily be used in such an application.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,818 to Cameron discloses a golf club head having an insert that is retained in a cavity by either threaded fasteners or is press-fit into the cavity. A vibration damping material such as silicone is disposed in one or more cavities behind the face insert. A drawback of the golf club disclosed in Cameron, however, is that since the insert is either press fit into the cavity or retained by threaded fasteners, vibrations from the face insert are easily transmitted to the club head by direct contact or through the metallic threaded fasteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,472 to Magerman et al discloses a method of manufacturing a golf putter in which the cavity has a raised perimeter bead extending above the face of the club. The face insert is cast in place in the cavity so that it extends above the surface of the face of the club. Once the insert is cured, the perimeter bead and that portion of the face insert extending above the club face are removed to provide a planar surface. The disadvantage of the method disclosed in Magerman is that the insert is only a single material and therefore cannot be tailored for both durability of the striking face and good vibration damping characteristics.